


shitty humor should be a sin, cause heaven knows love ain't

by driedupwishes



Series: no power in the verse can take you from me [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefly Verse, Annie's not as funny as she thinks she is, F/F, Levi's hopelessly in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 02:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6138589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I was just joking, y'know," Annie said. "About the special hell."</p>
<p>"That's not shit you ruttin' joke about," Levi bit out, only keeping from choking on his food from sheer stubbornness. </p>
<p>Annie shrugged, eyes glittering with something like secrets, and Levi reflected that his crew was so gorram troublesome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	shitty humor should be a sin, cause heaven knows love ain't

"I was joking, you know," Annie said. Levi felt himself stiffen, shoulders ridged as she dropped her plate down beside him and sat at the table. He had nothing to fear from the preacherwoman, he was sure he could take her no matter how her eyes said different, but he didn't have the faintest clue what in the ruttin' hell they were talking ‘bout.

"Joking," he repeated cautiously. His fork stayed poised, halfway between his mouth and his plate.

She laughed a soundless little huff and smiled, an expression Levi found himself uncomfortable with. Didn't look right on her face, he thought absently, leaning back in the old wooden chair at the head of the table; something withdrawn in her eyes that spoke of secrets.

Levi didn’t like secrets, ‘specially none that glimmered in the eyes of a preacherwoman known and respected by the Alliance. But she ain’t done them wrong yet, so he kept his mouth shut and waited for her to talk.

"About the special hell," she elaborated after a few bites of her food, the same sorta leftovers Levi was eating from that morning. "I was joking."

Levi swallowed his bite of food half-chewed, only didn't choke on it outta sheer stubbornness. "That's not shit you ruttin' joke about," he got out, eventually, after several long seconds of the blonde looking far too amused for Levi's liking. She shrugged, the motion belying something Levi wasn't too eager to find out.

"Eren's not a child," Annie answered, a walk ‘round explanation that had Levi biting his tongue on a _no ruttin’ way_ response that probably would’ve ended this conversation before it began. He kept quiet and Annie continued, adding, "and he ain't so moonbrained he can't make his own decisions, no matter what Mikasa says about what the Alliance did to him."

Levi blinked. Ain't nothing in the second part of that statement he found disagreement with and it was strange, realizing Annie meant every word. Levi'd always assumed she stood next to Eren during conflicts because he was this thing she felt the need to, well, shepard Eren like a little lost lamb. It'd never occurred to him she might be standing there thinking of Eren as his own functioning person.

"Besides," Annie added, after Levi had been staring at her a minute too long. "Nobody so sweet in love and so good for that boy is going to any kind of Hell on my watch."

This time there ain't no power in the 'verse could've kept him from choking, his face burning up like a crooked campfire as he sputtered.

"I- Nobody said nothing about-"

"Nobody had to say nothing," Annie answered, her voice dropping into an echo of an accent that made Levi scowl, flushing even further until his cheeks itched with the heat. "It's plain as day on your face every time he so much as crosses your mind, let alone comes into your sight."

Levi paled at the thought that he’d be such an open book about this shit, his fingers twitching so that his fork knocked audibly against the edge of his old metal plate in a way that made Annie grin with the faintest hint of smugness. He swallowed, glancing away, and like gorram clockwork his mind jumped to Eren, to where he knew the brilliant green eyed young man was now, curled up in Levi’s bunk in Levi’s quarters, sleeping peaceful and sound.

Annie’s laughter pulled him away from that thought, her eyes bright and mouth twitching in a pressed line as Levi’s eyes snapped to hers. “Don’t worry,” she said dryly, boggling Levi’s mind, because she was nothing like the uptight young woman who’d boarded his ship as a passenger, scowling and tight lipped at every corner. He hadn’t been paying much attention to Annie, so he hadn’t the faintest what had brought about the change in her. Maybe it was all the crime. Maybe she’d hit her head when no one been looking.

“Confessions are what the church does, remember? Your secrets safe with me.”

Something bubbled up in Levi’s throat, something that had his lip curling, fingers twitching for a pistol that would be properly impolite at the dinner table, or so Krista had told him again and again.

“Eren ain’t no secret I gotta keep,” Levi growled, finding himself spitting the words out half chewed like some back-berthing idiot on the Rim. He grimaced at himself the second after he said it, but there was a truth in his words he wasn’t about to take back; whatever was happening between him and Eren, it wasn’t something he was ashamed of or going to hide like a dirty little gorram secret. Eren deserved better than that.

(Eren deserved better than Levi could ever afford to give him, the kind of life he’d known only too brief as a kid. But Levi couldn’t help that, could only do what he could to make sure Eren was as safe and comfortable as he could be.

And if that meant sometimes going to remote areas and maybe letting Eren come along on jobs, to stretch his legs and let him stop mopping around the ship so much, so be it. Levi didn’t much think taking Eren on jobs was a bad idea, but he twitched at the idea of exposing him to the kind of danger Levi’d lived with for only too long.

But whatever made Eren happy, Levi’d do it, in a heartbeat with nothing so much as a second thought.

So maybe Annie was right. Maybe Levi was in love. But there wasn’t nothing he could do about it, nothing he wanted to do about it but let it lie a while longer. Wasn’t about to hide it, but no need to go broadcasting it over every open channel from here to Ariel quite yet.

Maybe one day though, if Eren let him. If Eren wanted him, maybe…)

“You’re right,” Annie said, shrugging. She stood up, picking up her plate, which Levi blinked at it bafflement when he realized it was empty. He hadn’t realized she’d been steadily eating while he’d been lost in thought and he cleared his throat, skin prickling with embarrassment. She didn’t smile, but it was a close thing. “But all the same, I’ll handle Mikasa.” The smile peaked through, corners of her mouth quirking around the other woman’s name, and Levi felt his eyebrows climb his forehead in surprise. Ruttin’ hell, he needed to pay more attention to his crew outside of Eren apparently. Huh.

“You just take care of your boy.”

There were a lot of things Levi could’ve responded with, such as _don’t tell me what to do I’m the ruttin’ captain around here_ and _mind your own fucking business preacherwoman, I ain’t one of your flock_ , but Levi ducked his head in a brief nod instead, fingers curling slightly around his fork once more.

“Appreciated,” he said quietly. And then he found himself alone once more, Annie nodding and depositing her plate in the sink for later before ghosting out the kitchen the way she had supposedly come. Levi sat there a minute longer on his own before standing up, picking up his plate in one hand with his fork tucked under his thumb. He collected a second helping of leftovers and then fled the kitchen as well, figuring it’d been a few hours since Eren had fell asleep and he could do with a good meal in him, even if it had been reheated twice.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Firefly au. I love Annie. and she really was joking, because everyone in the 'verse can see Levi adores Eren and is so so so good for him lbr. anyway!! small update, but I've got even more planned for this au because I just. love space cowboys so much.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
